Podcast Transcript In 1958, the People’s Republic of China instituted its second five-year plan since the revolution. Its goal was to rapidly modernize China and boost agricultural and industrial output to levels comparable to the Western world. China was going to become a modern country, not through the widespread adoption of machinery, but through the …
Podcast Transcript In the late 18th century, the newly independent United States of America faced its first major domestic crisis. Settlers in its westernmost regions rose up in open armed rebellion against the government. The cause of the rebellion had to do with taxes, which was the very thing that the American Revolution was about …
Podcast Transcript One of the most important and least understood sources of energy in the world today is nuclear power. Nuclear power has an energy density tens of millions of times greater than fossil fuels and has one of the most impressive safety records of any energy source. Yet, for decades, controversy has surrounded it …
Podcast Transcript Everything we know in the world is ultimately dependent on energy. Energy fuels our bodies as well as our civilization. Energy is literally everywhere and all around us. Yet for the longest time, we had no idea what energy really was. It wasn’t until relatively recently that scientists had a grasp on energy …
Podcast Transcript In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh established an English colony on an island in what is today the state of North Carolina. After a slow start, over 100 people moved to the island to start a new life and establish this English outpost at the edge of the new world. When a ship returned …
Podcast Transcript For thousands of years, many theories have been put forward as to the cause of communicable diseases. These theories ranged from the religious to the magical and sometimes quasiscientific, but what they all had in common was that there was no proof for anything. Over the centuries these theories became dogma and often …
Podcast Transcript On April 15, 1452, a child was born in the village of Vinci, which was then part of the Republic of Florence. It was the illegitimate son of a peasant woman and a local notary Given his illegitimate status, no one expected much of the young man, so he was apprenticed in the …
Podcast Transcript All sports are governed by a body of rules. Within those rules, there is usually a set of norms for how the game should be played. Most coaches will instruct their players to use similar techniques. However, every so often, someone comes along who totally rethinks how a game can be played. Using …
Podcast Transcript One of the most important inventions in human history was artificial lighting. With the electric lightbulb, the night could be illuminated, allowing people to extend the productive hours in a day and to work in places that were otherwise difficult or impossible. While the incandescent bulb was a breakthrough, it wasn’t actually very …